Land
Considered as a means of production, a necessary material prerequisite for the process of labor; one of its most important material factors. Land comes from nature itself and is the primary means of production in many sectors of the national economy, above all in agriculture and forestry. It has a number of features that influence the nature of the production process in these sectors. Land is a means of production that cannot be reproduced, which fundamentally limits land resources in general (agricultural land in particular) and makes the properties of the land dependent on a group of climatic and other natural factors. Although the total area of land is limited absolutely, the dimensions of agricultural land are limited relatively. With the increasing availability of technical equipment, the expansion of land improvement, the electrification of agriculture, and the general development of productive forces, it becomes possible to turn new lands into agricultural lands. Such possibilities must not, however, be exaggerated, particularly because the development of industry brings the reverse process into play, namely the removal of some land from agricultural use. The growing need for agricultural products can be satisfied above all through the more intensive and efficient use of land already under cultivation. From this it follows that intensification of agricultural production is the primary way of developing it. Fertility is the basic property of land as a means of production and shapes its use value. From the economic point of view fertility is the ability of land to go on producing the plant products necessary to man and to permit the development of animal husbandry. Fertility depends on the quantity of nutrients in the land, the structure of the soil, and other biological and climatic factors that initially form in the course of natural processes. After land is brought into economic circulation, fertility may be reproduced and improved artificially through technical progress: fertilizers improved, technical equipment, and cultivation techniques. The most favorable conditions for increasing the fertility of the land are created where there is a rational combination of natural and artificial production capabilities. The unity of these factors shapes the real, economic fertility of the land. It is precisely growth in economic fertility that is the most important aspect of raising the use efficiency of land resources. The index of the economic fertility of land is the yield of agricultural crops. Growth in the yield of crops and in the productivity of animal husbandry is direct evidence of improvement in the quality of the land and in its use value. This growth completely refutes the Malthusian and neo-Malthusian theories and the so-called law of diminishing fertility. The law of diminishing fertility contradicts one of the most important features of the land as a means of production, which is that the use value of land in economic circulation (where it is used rationally), rather than decreasing, actually increases. To improve the quality of the land and increase its fertility, the USSR has an extensive program of measures to expand the production and use of mineral fertilizers, introduce land improvement measures, and perfect the system of farming with due regard for the characteristics of different zones of the country. A specific feature of land, which is related to its primary production property of fertility, is that it is both an object and a means of labor at the same time. When the production process is directed toward cultivating the soil and involves maintaining or increasing its fertility, the land appears as an object of labor. Therefore lands drawn into economic circulation and placed under cultivation cannot be viewed simply as a gift of nature. In this case the productive properties of the land are also a result of labor activity, and the efficiency of the use of the productive properties is assessed with due regard for expenses incurred. Land appears as an object of labor, however, only in the first stages of the process of agricultural production. As a condition for and the basis of the entire technology of agricultural production, land is a means of labor. But the fertility of the land, its ability to provide nutrients to agricultural crops, makes it a unique instrument of production. Just as fertility is the main property of land as a means of agricultural production, land itself acts mainly as an instrument of production. In this case the characteristic feature of land is that man uses biological, chemical, and other processes occurring in the soil itself as instruments of production; man creates the most favorable conditions for these processes and attempts to control and vary their course in the necessary direction. In this sense the problem of using the land as an instrument of production is more complex than the use of machinery or equipment. The level of potential fertility and opportunities for its use are determined by the level of development of agricultural means of production, the technical equipment available to agriculture, and the level of farming sophistication that is appropriate. Therefore the nature of land as an instrument of production is historically just as changeable as all other means of production. There is no limit to increasing the fertility of the soil as technical progress develops. Farming experience in the economically developed countries shows that soil fertility rises steadily. It is important to take account of the changes occurring in land fertility specifically in connection with the possibility of producing different crops on one and the same plot, that is, with the universality of land as an instrument of production. Alternating crops (crop rotation) on cultivated land makes it possible to maintain the level of fertility achieved. Thus crop rotation is a vital element in reproducing the properties of land as an instrument of production. At the same time each plot of land is differently suited for the production of particular types of output. Therefore, the most efficient use of land fertility is directly dependent on correctly determining the optimal sector of a farm and on the level of farming specialization. The increasingly broad use of mineral fertilizers and other factors that influence fertility expands possibilities for specializing agricultural production. Under present conditions, with agriculture moving to the stage of machine production and greater specialization, the development of agricultural production is a most important task. Economic evaluation of the land and the development of a state land cadaster that would take account of the possible results from various types of land should promote correct shaping of the production schedules of agricultural enterprises. Another specific feature of land as the primary means of production in farming is the time gap between production and the working period; this increases unevenness in the use of labor resources and the means of production in different periods of the year. As the intensity of agricultural production grows, the time gap between production and the working period is reduced, because of the creation of more new jobs in the top dressing of plants, control of weeds and pests, and other contributions of production technology. At the same time the intensity of agricultural labor evens out somewhat in the course of the entire production season. The most important way to resolve the problem of evening out the employment of agricultural workers is the comprehensive mechanization of production. The nature of ownership of the land as the means of production also determines the nature of production (agrarian) relationships. Differences in fertility and in the location of plots of land create the basis for differential rent, the economic manifestation of the ownership of land. Different forms of land ownership and agrarian relations create different conditions for using and improving the land. Socialism, which in the final account eliminates private ownership of land and transforms private farms into large-scale socialist state and cooperative enterprises, completely removes the socioeconomic barriers to agricultural development. A large part is played here by rent incomes that arise because of the natural (soil or geographic) features of different plots of land and are used productively in accordance with the needs of all agriculture. Simultaneously socialism creates objective prerequisites for rational specialization of agricultural enterprises with due regard for the specific features of the land resources. By the same token the conditions arise for the efficient use of one of the most important types of social wealth—land. REFERENCES Marx, K. Kapital, vol. 3. K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 25, part 2, pp. 201–03, 226–30. Lenin, V. I. “Agrarnyi vopros i ‘kritiki Marksa.’” Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 5, pp. 100–15. Osnovy zemel’nogo zakonodatel’stva Soiuza SSR i soiuznykh respublik. Moscow, 1969.L. V. NIKIFOROV Category:Means of Production